Monday, October 13, 2014

Our man in Damascus

The United States says it does not
want to help Assad's government despite bombing Islamic State, the most
powerful group fighting against Damascus in a three-year-old civil war.
Washington aims to help arm moderates to fight against both Assad and
Islamic State. But within
days of the start of U.S. air strikes in Syria last month, Assad's
government stepped up the tempo of its own air campaign against rebels
closer to the capital Damascus. The
Observatory said the Syrian air force had struck 40 times on Monday in
areas in Idlib and Hama provinces, including dropping oil drums packed
with explosives and shrapnel. Typically Damascus has carried out no more than 12-20 raids a day.

Those indiscriminate Syrian regime attacks -- including but not limited to the barrel bombs -- are almost certainly war crimes. So if they're being facilitated by US military action ...